1.
Add
Unexpected Color
If you don't want to hang a piece of
art, color in an unusual place can make a statement, such as in this Atlanta living room.
Designer Kay Douglass painted an empty bookcase orange, which sets off the
Palladian details. "You notice it right away, don't you?" she says.
"It almost becomes an art piece and helps make the room, instead of being
just a place to store things. One of the biggest design mistakes people make is
cluttering their world with too many things."
2.
Embrace Pattern
If you're afraid of using a print,
use it in subtle ways. "My client doesn't like pattern, but if you do it
on curtains you don't see the full repeat," designer Kevin Isbell says
about decorating this Summit, New Jersey house. "If the pattern is stretched
over a sofa, you get the full impact. On curtains, the folds soften the
pattern."
3.
Update
What You Already Own
Taking what you have and reworking
it can create transformative results. "We British turn everything into
something else — curtains become upholstery, upholstery becomes pillows. It
just goes on and on," designer Alexander Doherty says. "That's very
much what happened here in this Manhattan apartment. I had the pictures reframed. The blue mat on the painting
in the dining room had a water stain, so I just repainted it. Another thing I
did was buy white card shades for the lamps and paint them."
4.
Mix Up Styles
Break up the traditional with
something more modern. In a Corona Del Mar, California, house, Barbara Barry
took the edge off the dining room's formality with a Nevo pendant by Arturo Alvarez ad a Swedish cabinet.
5.
Try
High-Gloss Paint
"Gloss! High gloss! Shine!
Polish!" designer Jeffrey Bilhuber says about what will be a big trend in 2013. Follow his lead by using the finish on your ceiling, like
in the guest room of Bilhuber's New York apartment. The ceiling is lacquered
with Benjamin
Moore's Jupiter Glow.
6.
Add
Art
Put up a painting and don't worry
about whether it won't completely mesh with the space. "You don't need the
approval of others if you're confident it's right," designer Mica Ertegun
says. "I might have commented once or twice that I wasn't crazy about
where my client wanted to hang a painting, but the truth is that good art
doesn't look wrong anywhere." In this simple, elegant East Hampton, New
York, living room, a wildly colorful painting by Beatriz Milhazes hangs above
the fireplace.
7.
Use Brighter
Hues
"Photoshop, HDTV, and hi-res
computer screens have dialed up our sense of vision," says designer
Stephen Shubel, who painted this painted this girl's bedroom in San Francisco
with Benjamin
Moore's Tickled Pink. In 2013, "Our
rooms will be full of lighter, more saturated hues."
8.
Layer
Pattern
The trick to mixing patterns?
Alternate them with solids. "The pattern in the room works in
layers," architect David Rockwell says of a New York City apartment he designed as part of the Designer Visions showhouse. The
bedroom has a "boho-chic sensibility," with Jim Thompson's moody
Byzance wallpaper and an antique screen upholstered in Madeline Weinrib's Black
Remy doubling as a headboard.
9.
Add an
Eye-Catching Light Fixture
In a traditional center-hall
Colonial in Rye, New York, the shimmering kitchen with its effervescent chandelier comes as a surprise.
"The glass bubbles look like they're dancing, don't they?" designer
Louise Brooks says. "They give the room a real kick.
10.
Create a
Bar
Entertain guests with a stylishly
stocked bar. A little bar tucked away in the corner of a living room is such a
welcoming gesture. The painting in the dining room had a water stain, so
I just repainted it. Another thing I did was buy white card shades for the
lamps and paint them."
